


Stars and Tiny Cupcakes

by timeladyleo



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-03 12:57:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4101790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeladyleo/pseuds/timeladyleo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Shappey has always loved the stars, and picnics, and Carolyn has always and will always love Arthur. So naturally, a picnic under the stars is the logical progression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cassiopeia

It began when Arthur was ten. The arguing between his parents was at its worst, and he felt like he should be able to do _something_ to make it all magically stop and go away. Carolyn knew that they were long past the point of happy families, and it was becoming harder and harder to pretend that everything was fine to Arthur. 

She was, however, glad that Gordon wasn’t around to hear Arthur shyly ask one day “Mum, can we have a picnic?” She was startled at the request, mostly because it was nearing the end of October and not exactly picnic weather, but also because it made her stop to think about how many things Arthur was missing by having the parents he did. She couldn’t recall ever doing basic, normal family things with him. 

“Of course we can, Arthur. Next week, okay?” She left the ‘when your father is away’ unspoken. He looked a little disappointed, but didn’t push. He had begun to learn that asking for things repeatedly got him into trouble. Carolyn smiled as genuinely as she could, bending down to his level. “I tell you what, why don’t you have a think about what you want to put in the basket, and we’ll go in the evening when the stars are out, yes?” 

This seemed to cheer him up. A few weeks earlier, Carolyn had given him a book about space, as Arthur showed a keen interest in stars and she had hoped it would keep him occupied for a little while. Gordon had disapproved of course, leading to an argument, but Carolyn was only glad she had dealt with the it instead of Arthur. Gordon had ruined enough of his interests so Carolyn was determined to let him have at least one. 

As it turned out, their picnic ended up being earlier than planned. Carolyn’s birthday fell at the end of October, an event Gordon had forgotten for the last few years running, but something Arthur never forgot. He had given her a clumsily homemade card, covered in too much glitter and childish handwriting. Of course, for Gordon this had been another disappointment. The ensuing argument had almost become vicious before Gordon had, to Carolyn’s relief, decided he had become bored and marched out to take his trip in his aeroplane a few days early. 

The following day, Carolyn retrieved her picnic basket from the attic. Together, she and Arthur sat at the kitchen table planning what to put in it. She kept a close eye on Arthur, always feeling bad after knowing that Arthur had watched her and Gordon shouting. He added his binoculars and his book to the basket, grinning with excitement. Carolyn liked to see him smile, hoping that her fear of Gordon one day wiping away Arthur’s smile for good never came true. 

In the basket, along with Arthur’s bits and bobs went generic picnic food and Carolyn’s old plaid blanket which would become their picnic blanket. Arthur watched as Carolyn placed in sandwiches and tiny little cupcakes. Once the basket was full, he grinned, jumping up as if ready to go even though it was only midday. Carolyn smiled. 

“Now wait a minute, we’ll have to go this evening if we want to see any stars.” Arthur’s eyes widened as he realised she was right, looking up at the ceiling as if he would find stars there. 

“So, we’ll have a _night-time_ picnic?” He looked up at Carolyn expectantly, who nodded once. “Brilliant! Because picnics are usually at lunchtime, but at night will be even better because it’ll be all dark and there won’t be anyone else around at all.” 

Arthur continued to babble about general picnic etiquette, Carolyn occasionally making noises of acknowledgement. She wasn’t paying as much attention to what he was saying as she thought she should have done, but pretended that she was so not to disappoint Arthur. That was one of the things she hated most about Gordon, how he passed off anything Arthur talked about for more than three seconds as pointless chatter and refused to listen. 

Eventually, the evening fell. Arthur had been checking out of the window every half hour or so to see whether or not it was getting dark. It was the happiest Carolyn had seen him for, well, months, so she couldn’t find it in herself to tell him to wait because they were going at around half past six no matter how dark it got before then. They ended up leaving a little before then, Arthur’s asking when they were going becoming so constant it was annoying. 

Making sure Arthur had on his big coat and red wellies, they set off towards the nearby park. There was a rather large hill with a bench set just at the top from which you could more or less overlook Fitton. This, Carolyn figured, was the best place to go stargazing. 

Arthur carried the basket for the walk at his own request. Carolyn had let him without questioning it, as though it was heavy, he was relatively tall and quite strong. He swung it absentmindedly, almost skipping along beside Carolyn, who decided that a brisk walk was quite fast enough. 

As they entered the park, Arthur raced off ahead, half running, half skipping to the top of the hill. Carolyn caught him up a few minutes later to find him lying on the grass, his arms stretched out by his sides. His cheeks were flushed and he beamed as Carolyn lay out the blanket to join him on the ground. He pointed intently up at the sky. 

“Look, mum! There’s Cassiopeia!” He traced a vague shape in the air. Fortunately, Carolyn already knew which constellation he was pointing to, so found it herself in the sky. “And if you follow - that one - then you get to Andromeda! Which is a _whole galaxy_.” 

Arthur continued to talk about space, telling Carolyn all about how Andromeda was the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way and how one day it they would crash into each other. She found herself wishing that it could be like this more often, just her and Arthur having an evening without worrying about anything. Guilt suddenly gripped her. It was all Gordon’s fault that their family was broken, but she still couldn’t help but feel like she should be able to do something more, if not for herself then for Arthur. 

He was beginning to realise the relationship between his parents was broken beyond repair, even if he never said anything. Carolyn could see her own faked smile mirrored on his face, and it terrified her. Arthur was too young to be able to fully express how he felt about his father, though Carolyn saw the terror on his face when he tried to talk to Gordon, saw the disappointment after Gordon had brushed him off without a thought. 

That was why she tried so hard not to put him down too much, even when he was going on and on about something completely meaningless. Some days it was hard, because after all she was no angel and patience wasn’t her finest quality. Still, it broke her heart when Arthur came running to her after Gordon had shouted, or when she knew Arthur was watching them fight. 

“What’s that one?” she asked, pointing up at a bright one. Arthur rolled over to lie next to her, following her finger up to the star. 

“Oh, that’s Vega! It’s in the constellation Lyra.” He traced another pattern in the air, this time more like a square than a W. “And to the left is Cygnus, which is the swan constellation.”

“Which is your favourite?” Carolyn asked. Arthur paused for a moment, his face crumpling up in thought as he ran through different constellations in his head. 

“Probably Leo, because that’s a lion! And lions are brilliant! But it’s not out tonight, it’s hiding with Orion behind the horizon.” As Arthur continued to put names to the imaginary shapes in the sky, Carolyn sat up to get the flask out of the basket to pour herself a cup of tea. She also took out the cupcakes to offer one to Arthur. With a large smile he took one, lying back on the grass with his mouth full. 

For some time they staying in silence, watching the stars slowly trace their paths through the sky. Eventually, Arthur spoke, his voice soft. “I wish we could do this more often.” 

Carolyn paused, the sincerity in his voice making her uncertain what to say. She closed her eyes for a long moment before looking at Arthur, who was gazing up at her as intently as he had been gazing at the stars. 

“So do I, Arthur. So do I.”


	2. Leo

The nighttime picnic wasn’t mentioned again until several years later, after Arthur’s thirteenth birthday. His birthday had been somewhat sidelined by the horrible mess of Carolyn and Gordon’s divorce, because as would be expected, it wasn’t easy. Arthur had tried his best to stay out of the way during those months, though it was hard to ignore how stressed and tired Carolyn was. 

He was glad when it was over, only if to see his mother smile genuinely again. And if he had to put his birthday to the side and not make a big deal about it, then that was worth not having Gordon shouting all the time. 

However, Carolyn hadn’t forgotten his birthday. She felt guilty that it had been pushed to the side and that she had hardly mentioned it, but had decided that getting rid of his father once and for all was a just enough cause. Still, she felt she had to make up for it. The memory of their picnic came up as she saw Arthur crafting a rocket out of toilet roll tubes and string, giving her an idea. 

Though Arthur had become visibly happier now that he was no longer dealing with being shouted at almost every day, he still was quiet and became terrified whenever he made a mistake. Carolyn hoped that he would some day stop feeling the terror Gordon had ingrained within him, but she wouldn’t rush him, only support him as best as she could. 

It was a month or so after they had finally rid of Gordon than Carolyn put her plan into action. She had been preparing for a clear day since she had had the idea to take Arthur on a picnic, though as often happens in March, it had been a more or less constant grey drizzle for weeks. So when the first clear day struck, she wasted no time in organising everything. 

“Arthur, come here.” she called from the kitchen, making sure the basket was placed on the table in plain sight. Arthur ran into the kitchen a few moments later. Upon seeing the basket his mouth dropped open, recognising it immediately and putting the pieces together. 

“Picnic?” he said, cautious excitement brimming in his voice. 

“I thought that if you wanted to, we could go tonight while it’s clear out.” Arthur stood, frozen with his mouth open for a moment before bouncing up and down and launching forward into a hug. 

For the rest of the day, Arthur was abuzz with excitement, pacing the house, watching the clock, packing and repacking the basket and asking Carolyn how much longer they had to wait. She shooed him off to go and play with their new dog in the garden. Usually she would never have gotten such a ridiculous looking dog, but she thought that a dog would be just the thing to cheer Arthur up. Of course, out of all the dogs at the shelter, he had to fall in love with the tiny cockapoo, and then had to give it a ridiculous name. 

As evening began to fall, Arthur bounded into the living room, Snoopadoop following behind. “Mum! It’s getting dark, can we go now?” 

Carolyn stood up. “Alright then. If you go and get Snoopadoop’s lead, she can come too.” 

“Brilliant!” Arthur scurried off to the kitchen. Snoopadoop had flopped on the floor, lying down and staring up at Carolyn who shook her head. 

“You’re a silly dog, aren’t you.” She bent down to rub Snoopadoop’s belly, who wagged her tail enthusiastically. 

Arthur returned at that point, picnic basket in one hand and lead in the other. It was hard to tell if he or the dog were more excited. Arthur bent down and wrestled with Snoopadoop for a few minutes attempting to clip the lead to her collar. With the basket over her arm, Carolyn waited for Arthur to get Snoopadoop to behave. Arthur stood up with the lead in his hand, triumphant, and with a glance to his mother who nodded, headed for the door. 

They walked without a word for most of the journey. Instead of running ahead, Arthur stayed next to Carolyn, holding tightly onto Snoopadoop who pulled, wanting to run all the way there. 

At the top of the hill, Arthur helped Carolyn lay out the checked blanket, weighing down the corners with stones to try and stop it from flapping about in the breeze. Arthur clutched his map of the stars and binoculars tightly as though they too were going to fly off into the distance. 

Some clouds scattered across the sky, obscuring some of the stars, but to Carolyn’s great relief most of the big constellations were still visible, as well as the waxing moon. Arthur lay back on the grass and turned his binoculars up towards it with a faint gasp of awe as he did every time he looked closely at the craters on the surface. 

With one hand Carolyn kept a tight hold on Snoopadoop’s lead, and with the other she reached into the basket to take out the plate of sandwiches wrapped in clingfilm. At Arthur’s request they were strawberry jam and cut into triangles, his preferred sandwich shape. Snoopadoop liked sandwiches too, and indeed anything edible, so Carolyn stared firmly at the dog in warning. 

Carolyn had been almost worried that Arthur’s uncharacteristic silence would continue through their picnic. Not that she would have minded the quiet, of course, but it was a little strange for Arthur not to say anything as he had done. However, the unusual quiet was over as soon as Arthur turned from the moon and saw the stars. 

“Do you see that one, mum?” He pointed in a general up direction. “That’s Leo. That’s my favourite because it’s a lion, and lions are brilliant.” Snoopadoop chose that moment to bark a few times, jumping on Arthur who laughed. 

“Not quite a lion.” Carolyn said to herself, smiling at the first genuine laughter she had heard from Arthur in months. It was going to be tough with just the two of them, she knew that, but if she could make Arthur smile like that without fear of being shouted at, then it was worth it. 

Arthur looked up at the stars in silence for a while after that, stroking Snoopadoop who sat on him, wagging her tail. Eventually, Arthur asked “What’s your favourite constellation, mum?” 

Carolyn was unprepared, so had to take a moment to think. She didn’t know all the stars like Arthur did, but having spent time listening to Arthur talk about constellations she did know a fair few. “Well, Lyra is quite nice, but I think my favourite would have to be Draco the dragon.”

At the mention of dragons, Arthur’s face lit up, turning to Carolyn to talk about the brilliance of dragons. This led to a mostly one-sided discussion of stars that were named after cool animals, and how a battle between a lion and a dragon would go, because of course lions are smaller than dragons, but are more agile so might be able to match a small dragon. 

This conversation lasted for the rest of the night, Arthur only pausing to eat and point out other stars. He happily would have stayed out all night, folding his arms when Carolyn suggested they head back. His argument for staying was spoiled somewhat as a light breeze blew over, carrying some tiny clouds over the stars and causing Arthur to shiver. 

Reluctantly he stood up, looking down at his hands to check he was still holding both his binoculars and Snoopadoop. As he wandered over to Carolyn to take her outstretched hand, he asked quietly “We can do this again, right, mum?” 

Carolyn squeezed his hand and smiled. “Of course we can, Arthur.” 

And they did. Every month or so they got out the basket and climbed to the top of the hill to have a night time picnic, making it their night off where neither had to worry about anything.


	3. Hercules

As Arthur became older nighttime picnics became less frequent. There was never a set day for them, only when one or both of them needed cheering up. Time was the biggest issue that faced them, MJN taking up most of it and leaving very little time for picnics. What had been a monthly event became every few months, and then every year. 

By the time Martin joined MJN, the nighttime picnic only happened occasionally, usually in November. Arthur didn’t mind that they didn’t have picnics as often as they had in the past. He was just glad that he got to fly with some of the most brilliant people in the world all the time. They were his family now, and that made him happy. 

Only one picnic happened between meeting Herc and Martin leaving for Vaduz, taking place after St Petersburg. It had been an understandably quiet picnic, both Carolyn and Arthur sat quietly looking at the stars and trying desperately not to think about Gordon and how much they did not miss him. 

Arthur had half expected Carolyn to announce that they were going to have a picnic after the discovery of gold on Gerti. He wasn’t disappointed that she didn’t, knowing that she had to sort everything out with the plane. More importantly, she was genuinely, truly happy, which was something Arthur hadn’t seen for a long time. Seeing Carolyn happy made him happy.

Herc too seemed to notice Carolyn’s change of mood. Arthur could tell that he was partly responsible for it, even if Carolyn only rarely expressed it. Arthur loved having Herc living with them. He had never said it, but it almost felt like having a proper dad, one who actually cared about how he was feeling and was willing to do silly things with him and listen to all his nonsense without just brushing him off. 

He also seemed more excited for Herc and Carolyn’s wedding than they were. From the moment they officially announced it, Arthur had been preparing. Carolyn was almost worried at how much more effort he was putting into her wedding than she was, but he didn’t seem to be doing anything horribly soppy, and if being excited kept him out of trouble, so be it. 

As August drew to a close, the date became terrifyingly close. The calendar flipped over into September and there in the second week was a day circled in red pen. Arthur had since drawn a huge smiley face on it too, which Carolyn couldn’t help but smile at. 

She also found herself nervous. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to at all, and not one she enjoyed. She was looking forward to it, of course - she wouldn’t have asked had she not meant it, but still she couldn’t help the small feeling of doubt. Herc was the complete opposite of Gordon, she knew this and Arthur did. But she supposed it was the part of her that wanted to protect Arthur that made her worry. 

The night before the wedding, Herc was out on one final trip to collect Martin and Theresa from Vaduz. It had met protest, but he had insisted that both Carolyn and Arthur stayed at home as it was only a short trip and he and Douglas were perfectly capable of managing alone. She was surprised that she hadn’t guessed that it was a plot.

She sat in the kitchen listening to the radio absently, thinking about the day ahead when Arthur came in with their picnic basket. It took her a moment to realise what was happening, but as her eyes met Arthur’s, she saw exactly what was going on. She smiled. 

Arthur had already packed most of the basket, including the sandwiches, the binoculars and the blanket. “You did remember the tiny little cupcakes, didn’t you?” Carolyn asked only to earn an exasperated ‘of course!’

They set off into the evening. It wasn’t cold, but being autumn it was still necessary to wear a coat. Arthur carried the basket, swinging it back and forth in the same way he had done when he was a child. They walked quickly, though Arthur never overtook Carolyn, walking at exactly her pace. 

On reaching the top of the hill, Arthur couldn’t contain himself any longer and all but threw himself to the ground to lie flat on the grass and look up. Carolyn chuckled to herself, watching him as she laid out the blanket. He was still ten years old at heart. For a little while he looked up, before pointing at the sky. 

“The big dipper!” he announced, sounding pleased with himself for pointing out the most well known constellation in the northern hemisphere. 

“The plough.” Carolyn half muttered under her breath, preferring herself to refer to the group of stars by their traditional English name. Arthur was too busy talking about the Great Bear and how many brilliant animals were constellations to notice her correction. She had heard this part of the conversation several times, so only half listened. However she was fairly sure that the part about ‘what if there was a shark constellation?’ was new. 

Arthur too knew she wasn’t really listening. He didn’t mind because he knew he was being repetitive, but also that her mind was elsewhere. Which was the whole reason he had arranged the picnic, organising for Herc to go on a trip. Carolyn would never admit to being nervous, but Arthur could see that though she was happy, a part of her was worried.

Tact, however, had never been one of Arthur’s skills, so his question as he sat up was straight to the point. “Are you looking forward to tomorrow, mum?” 

Carolyn blinked in surprise, turning to look at Arthur. “Arthur, what- oh, I see. That’s the whole reason behind all of this isn’t it? Do you think I’m not looking forward to tomorrow?” She could hear her own voice sounding far harsher than she intended and knew that for anyone else it would be a giveaway for her true feelings, but that Arthur would miss that and instead think that her surface level anger was true. 

Arthur shook his head, looking down as though he had been told off. “No, I just thought it might be nice.”

“It is nice.” Carolyn forced herself to soften her tone, reaching out to touch Arthur’s arm. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I’m sorry, Arthur. This was a lovely idea, so thank you very much for it.” 

A light breeze rustled the leaves on the trees behind them as Arthur looked up and smiled. In the way that only Arthur could, he had figured out the problem before he really understood what the problem was. “Are you scared for tomorrow?” 

There was no purpose to lying now, Carolyn figured. She could pretend to everyone else and especially Herc, but not Arthur. “A little, yes.” Arthur nodded again, his gaze drifting elsewhere. There was an awkward pause, neither knowing what to say, the trees filling the quiet with white noise. 

“Herc’s not like dad.” Arthur said finally, turning his head back to look Carolyn in the eye. Slowly, she shook her head. 

“No. No he’s not at all.” The conversation lapsed back into silence, neither needing to say any more as they both knew what the other was thinking about because they both shared the same fears of Gordon. Of course Carolyn knew that Herc was as far from Gordon as you could possibly get, but even still she couldn’t help the tiny part of her that tried to consider what bad things could happen. 

Her worried thoughts were broken as Arthur straightened up sharply and pointed, stretching to the sky as if he could touch the stars. “Look up there mum!”

“It’s Hercules.” They spoke together and laughed, any worries drifting away to be replaced with hope for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm not completely satisfied with the end but it's one of the only longish things I've ever finished, so that's quite good I suppose. Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading!


End file.
